Chapter 73

• "Your friendship with your friends, Rhea. It is a leash."
• Darius's voice rumbled in a low growl, thunder in the stillness of the war room. He stood at the window, his back to her, a shadowy figure against the moonlit fields. The air was thick with the scent of his power, the mixture of pine and smoke and something wild and untrammeled.
• Rhea, her breast a frantic drumming against her rib cage, stood by herself in the center of the room. The Mark of the Queen, a pulsating, see-through shroud of light, burned on her forehead, a sore reminder of her power. Her mates had departed. They had been summoned to the front lines, to fight a war they were losing. She alone was left with her enemy.